Youth Justice and Reform
In celebration and honor of Native Heritage Month, the National Educational Association (NEA) offers year-round resources to share the narrative of Indigenous People groups.
Resources include lesson plan units for children grades Kindergarten through 12 that focus on history, accurate representation, Thanksgiving lesson plans from the Native American perspective, background resources, printables/posters, videos, and recommended readings. The curated collection is in partnership with organizations centered in social justice and advocacy.
NEA Note: “Educators should be mindful of cultural appropriation when teaching about other cultures and understand that Native American students in class may experience lessons differently than non-Native students.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) engages audiences in a community education program, Learning for Justice. This resource provides educators with free resources to encourage youth civic participation as well as to learn honest history, promote servant leadership, and move toward a racially and socially just society.
This collection of resources has been curated by SPLC to offer lessons for elementary and middle school classrooms that focus on elections and voting.
Together for Girls is an international organization spotlighting the importance for youth advocacy and violence prevention against children. Their 2022-2023 impact report spotlights the preventability of violence and importance of change through partnership models.
In getting the bipartisan Brady Law passed in 1993, Jim and Sarah Brady accomplished the inconceivable. But there’s more work to be done — and only when we work together will we solve this problem. In order to do that work, we must accept these three truths about America’s gun violence epidemic: 1) Gun ownership demands responsibility; 2) Those empowered to do so must uphold existing gun laws; and 3) Gun violence is a uniquely American problem that impacts all races and ethnicities in the country, but nonetheless exacts a particular toll on Black and Brown communities.
Sandy Hook Promise is a national nonprofit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Based in Newtown, Connecticut, our intent is to honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation. By empowering youth to “know the signs” and uniting all people who value the protection of children, we can take meaningful actions in schools, homes, and communities to prevent gun violence and stop the tragic loss of life.
Giffords is a leader in the movement to end gun violence in America. Led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, our team brings decades of political, legal, and policy expertise to the fight for gun safety. Our efforts shift culture, mobilize voters, and challenge injustice.
Nearly 40,000 people die from gun violence in the US every year. This uniquely American crisis leaves no community untouched—but it doesn’t have to be this way. From universal background checks to community-based violence intervention strategies, we know that there are proven solutions that will make our country safer. In statehouses and courthouses across America, we’re taking on the gun lobby and winning. Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook in December 2012, we’ve helped pass more than 350 gun safety laws in 45 states.
Gun violence is a complex problem, and ending this epidemic will require a wide range of solutions. We’re committed to seeing this fight through, until the promise of a safe and just country is a reality for every person and community in America.
The Alliance for Gun Responsibility works to end the gun violence crisis in our community and to promote a culture of gun ownership that balances rights with responsibilities. Through collaboration with experts, civic leaders, and citizens, we work to find evidence-based solutions to the crisis of gun violence in our community. We create innovative policy, advocate for changes in laws, and promote community education to reduce gun violence.
The Alliance for Gun Responsibility Foundation regularly gathers national and local subject matter experts together to share information and discuss the intersectionality of gun violence with a number of research and advocacy issues, including suicide prevention, domestic violence, hate crimes, trauma-informed care, stigma and discrimination. Each summit focuses on evidence-based best practices, next steps and coordination of prevention efforts.
We are proud to partner with hundreds of organizations across Washington who support commonsense gun violence prevention efforts in our state. The depth and breadth of our coalition membership shows the strong desire for change from voices in all corners of the state.
We also have a robust volunteer program with local leaders across the state. The chapter team model empowers volunteers to drive change in their communities by engaging in a wide range of grassroots activities, including organizing a phone bank, hosting a house party, visiting with a legislator and attending rallies and other events.
The KQED Youth Media Challenge: Let’s Talk About Election 2020 is the perfect opportunity for science, mathematics, and engineering teachers to support students’ critical thinking and evidence-based media making around STEM issues. Want to get started, but don’t know how to fit this project in your curriculum that is already jam-packed with content? Here are some suggestions for using the Election 2020 challenge to enhance student understanding of the concepts you’re already teaching
When you’re undocumented, you face a lot of discrimination, and that creates a lot of fear. United We Dream transforms that fear into finding your voice. They empower people to develop their leadership, their organizing skills, and to develop their own campaigns to fight for justice and dignity for immigrants and all people. This is achieved through immigrant youth-led campaigns at the local, state, and federal level.
United We Dream is committed to providing the community with reliable information and useful tools. Here, you’ll find a resource hub with blogs, toolkits, reports, education, trainings, and much more.
National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live.
The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn’s best-selling book, “A People’s History of the United States”, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.
Teaching Tolerance is dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation’s children.
We provide free educational materials to teachers and other school practitioners in the U.S. and Canada. Our self-titled magazine is sent to 450,000 educators twice annually, and tens of thousands of educators use our free curricular kits.